Wednesday, March 26, 2008

The Castrating Word

Whisper, "Impeach," and almost everyone within earshot in Congress finds their gonads shrinking to microscopic proportions. Even the former Queen of Bluster, House Speaker Nancy Patricia D'Alesandro Pelosi, morphs into a small, tweeting, caged songbird.

She predates the Baby Boom by six years (her birthday is this very day of days; I hope someone gives her a courage refill). She's old enough to have gone to school when they taught civics and history. As a California and then U.S. Representative, she should also understand such concepts as checks and balances, and the Bill of Rights.

Unfortunately, she is not the only coward in Congress. She does submit daily and willingly to a President, Vice President and bit players who are well into destroying our democracy and freedoms.

Let there be no doubt that at the least George Bush and Dick Cheney should and could be impeached. Pelosi becomes the pivot because that is the duty of the House and she must act for it to happen. As constitutional scholar and gadfly Bruce Fein has said and written in many fora, she single-handedly took impeachment off the table, despite the huge groundswell of support for it among the public.

Fein has also testified before the U.S. Senate on the travesty of Bush's signing statements. Fortunately, his profile is so high the lawless administration won't ship his to Gitmo or elsewhere for re-education, but it must gall them not to do so.

If you've been living in a red world or neocon bubble, there are many sites and other resources listing the specific impeachment bases. For example:

Also, for the simply outraged, Dan Savage's ITMFA site has a not-safe-for-work title and bumper stickers on the subject.

More important at this point though is understanding why impeachment now is crucial to the future of our freedoms and democracy. Pelosi and her flock of capons are unwilling to act and have totally failed in their duty to protect us. Frankly, we are not getting what we are paying for. Our cowardly House is doing a far worse job than some 435 guys off the street.

If you need further clarity on this issue, click over to a Bill Moyers Journal segment, Tough Talk on Impeachment. Please note that this is in two parts and the second video link is near the bottom of the text. Together, they run 40 minutes or so.

In addition to Fein, The Nation contributor John Nichols discusses the basis and need for impeachment of both Cheney and Bush. He is the author of The Genius of Impeachment. By the bye, Fein wrote the first articles of impeachment for Bill Clinton.

I won't predigest the content of the show. Suffice it to write that we are long overdue to act and that anyone who cares about our system of government should start today. In fact, this is Nancy's birthday. Give the present of clear direction.

Anything that would let her know you are watching, you are bitterly disappointed, and you demand that she act to save our democracy would be a great birthday present. Give the gift of courage.Tags: massmarrier, Bush, Cheney, Pelosi, impeachment, Congress, Fein